Dying twin holds unborn sister's hand in heartbreaking sonogram photo

HUTCHINSON, Kan. -- A pregnant mother has a beautiful image that may serve as some comfort through difficult days ahead. Her twins - one with severe medical issues - were caught on a sonogram image holding hands in the womb.

Brittani and Ian McIntire were told one of their unborn twins will not survive. The boy twin has a hole in his heart and an abnormal brain, KWCH reports.

At each doctor's appointment, the couple received more bad news, until recently, when the image was captured by sonogram.

"We didn't really see much. She said there's his hand and there's her hand and it looks like they're holding hands," Brittani McIntire recalled.

The boy twin, whom the couple calls Mason, is on the left, and has his tiny hand wrapped around the growing finger of his sister, Madilyn.

"Most twins when she's trying to take pictures and stuff, they're kicking each other and hitting each other, and she said with our twins, it seems like she was very protective over him," Brittani McIntire said.

"We know we have a piece of them together that will last forever and it's special to have," Ian McIntire said.

"It's just nice with everything going on, I know I'm holding him, I'm carrying him, but I just want to be there for him and not knowing and she's the only one who can actually be there and holding onto him through it, and so it's comforting to know that if he does pass, he won't be alone," Brittani McIntire said.